Rock 'n' roll lives on, legends grow older

Rock ‘n’ roll music is littered with larger than life pronouncements about youth, aging and mortality. Here’s a roll call and an update on some of the most famous:

“Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I’m 64?”

— Paul McCartney wrote that for the “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” album back in 1967. Well, Sir Paul passed that significant birthday more than five years ago and still basks in the warm glow of love. He filled Yankee Stadium twice in July, and just wed for a third time on Oct. 9.

“Let’s live for today!”

— This was the song sung so passionately by The Grass Roots, becoming a Top 10 single, also in 1967. Lead singer Rob Grill died this past July at the age of 67.

“Too old to rock ‘n’ roll, too young to die.”

— Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull turned 64 in August and has tour dates listed on his website that will carry him and the group through 2012, performing their “Thick as a Brick” album in its entirety for the first time in 40 years.

“All things must pass.”

Then there’s the oldest, boldest, prematurest proclamation of them all:

“I hope I die before I get old!”

— Pete Townshend is far beyond fulfilling the arrogance-of-youth declaration he wrote in 1965 at age 20. He turned 66 in May and is still productive.

What are we aging baby boomers to make of all this?

Let’s face it. Any self-respecting boomer who isn’t thinking about mortality is just fooling himself or herself. And the conveyor belt to the dustbin of eternity is picking up speed. But I still say our collective generational response to all of this should be a loud and clear: “Carpe diem!”

Or in the more recent phrase of a dying Warren Zevon, in his last interview on “The Late Show with David Letterman”: “Enjoy every sandwich.”

The best antidote to age anxiety can be found in the writings of Viktor Frankl, the late Holocaust survivor and originator of the school of psychotherapy known as logotherapy.

In his ageless book “Man’s Search for Meaning,” he included a passage describing why young people should envy their elders: “Instead of possibilities in the future, they have realities in the past — the potentialities they have actualized, the meanings they have fulfilled, the value they have realized — and nothing and nobody can ever remove these assets from the past.”

Amen to that.

Remember the million-dollar quartet? Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis gathered to record together at Sun Records in Memphis on a December day in 1956 — a session that inspired the recent Broadway musical. Only Lewis is still alive, so he called the album he released 50 years later “Last Man Standing.” One of his best songs is “Rockin’ My Life Away.”

Those are words to live by.

Pete Fornatale, a New York radio personality, is author of “Back to the Garden: The Story of Woodstock.”

ADVISORY: Users are solely responsible for opinions they post here and for
following agreed-upon rules of civility. Posts and
comments do not reflect the views of this site. Posts and comments are
automatically checked for inappropriate language, but readers might find some
comments offensive or inaccurate. If you believe a comment violates our rules,
click the "Flag as offensive" link below the comment.

I was standing in line with Mr. Jimmy
And man, did he look pretty ill
We decided that we would have a soda
My favorite flavor, cherry red
I sung my song to Mr. Jimmy
Yeah, and he said one word to me, and that was "dead"